Point of Impact (Novel Series)
Point of Impact is the a novel written by Stephen Hunter, and the first in the Bob Lee Swagger series. It follows Bob Lee Swagger, an ex-Marine who is framed for the attempted assassination of the President of the United States. Plot On a wet November day just before hunting season, Bob Lee Swagger staves off the cold by force of will while in the woods with his rifle. He hunts for Tim, a massive buck who has lived through several conflicts and gunshots. In the distance, he sees a doe and her fawn. A group of people meet in the field headquarters of RamDyne Security. Colonel Raymond Shreck and two of his associates, Jack Payne and Dr. David Dobbler, examine four final choices for snipers in an upcoming plan. The final of the four, determined to be without flaw, is Bob Lee Swagger. In the woods, Bob's 17 hours of patient waiting pay off as Tim appears before him. He forces away surprise and shoulders the rifle, ready to take the shot. Dobbler continues discussing Bob's history. His father, Earl Swagger, was murdered in 1955, and he joined the Marines just out of high school, where he would serve three tours and gather a kill count officially totaling at 87 before being shot in the hip from over 1,000 yards. Immediately afterward, his best friend and spotter, Donny Fenn, tried to run to him and was shot in the chest, killing him instantly. After three years of rehabilitation, he retired in 1975. Bob hits the buck exactly where he wants, sending it to the ground in with a non-lethal bullet. He nears it and pulls out a knife, telling him it will be over quickly, and saws off the antlers before hurrying Tim to his feet and sending him off. Dobbler tells the others of Bob's flaw: he refuses to kill anymore. Later, Bob takes one of his rifles out to his shop after noticing that his latest shot was slightly off the mark. While there, his dog Mike alerts him to visitors. Bob meets two men out front, one tall and one shorter than himself, but well-built. Shreck and Payne await Bob's invitation, but are denied until Shreck tosses Bob a Congressional Medal of Honor, gaining them five minutes out of respect for his service. In Bob's trailer, Shreck introduces himself as Colonel William A. Bruce of Accutech Industries, a firm in the process of creating high-tech ammunition for law enforcement. Bob asks what they want from him, and Shreck tells him that they want him to fly around the country and demonstrate their mass-produced ammo for law enforcement agencies, as well as compare them to his own hand-made rounds. They manage to convince him, and he agrees to leave on the next weekend. A few days before he's set to leave, Bob makes travel arrangements and places a call to one of his old military contacts regarding Colonel Bruce. His reply comes in the next day, telling him that the story is legit and that everything he says checks out. The night before the trip, Bob's memories of wartime begin to plague him once again and he, a recovered alcoholic, resists the urge to drink and takes a walk down the road, ending up at Aurora Baptist Church and its cemetery, where he visits the grave of Bo Stark, an Army soldier lost to suicide. The next day, he arrives in Baltimore and takes a rental car to a Ramada hotel outside Accident. Waiting at the front desk for him was his per diem and instructions to find the Accutech headquarters just down the road. That night, Bob tries not to think about the surveillance team that had followed him the whole way from the airport. The next day, Dobbler is in the middle of briefing Payne's RamDyne subordinates on Bob Lee Swagger when his mind drifts toward his days in prison, spent as the toy of a fearsome inmate. Payne snaps him back into reality, and he continues his speech. They are alerted to Bob having left the hotel. Bob arrives at the Accutech range and is given several hours of extensive shooting tests in which he shoots four varying bullets in a random order: his own hand-made rounds, two commercial rounds, and Accutech's experimental bullet. The tests result in Accutech's rounds faring better than all others, Bob's coming in a close second. He realizes that he's being played, but does not know what their intentions are. He ponders it for the night, and resolves to tell them that he will not kill for them. During their next training session, Shreck is absent and a mid-fifties-aged man named Hatcher takes his place at the lead. He introduces Bob to a bare-bones recreation of a building in Tulsa, and tells him that they're recreating an event from 1986 in which an FBI sniper named Nick Memphis shot and paralyzed a hostage while trying to take down the criminal in a moving vehicle, who later killed other hostages and committed suicide. Hatcher sends Bob up to the approximate location that Memphis had during the incident and they begin the reenactment. Hatcher barks orders into Bob's earpiece, and after a while, he removes it and focuses solely on the shot. With several seconds of time passed and no answer from Bob, he revokes the greenlight to take the shot. The car comes into view and he sights the target, a watermelon surrounded by balloons. As it reaches his range, he receives the greenlight from Hatcher, but has already pulled the trigger. The watermelon explodes and no balloons are damaged. He returns to the ground, where he is congratulated by Hatcher for solving the problem Memphis couldn't by removing himself from command, saying that Memphis's shot was botched by "Base," the man on the other end of the radio. Soon afterward, Hatcher brings Bob another rifle, Bob noted as a Winchester Model 70 in .300 H&H Magnum with a black walnut stock and bearing the serial number 100000, before being given his new assignment. A thousand-yard shot, reenacting an illegal DEA operation against a drug lord, puts Bob inside a dirt hole while waiting for his moment. As the dark figure of a dummy comes into view, he puts a bullet within an inch of its heart and sends it limp. He realizes that they're using him for more than he thought before, but tries to hide it when Hatcher and Payne congratulate him on the shot that no other man could make. Bob then tells them that he wants them to call for Bruce and ask why he went to so much trouble to turn him into the sniper that crippled him and killed Donny. He turns around and drives the butt of the rifle into Payne's mouth, lifting him off the ground and shattering his teeth. Nick Memphis, an FBI agent focused on drug crime in New Orleans, receives a phone call from a doctor at a local hospital, informing him that his wife, Myra, has died. He tells his supervisor, Hap Fencl, and says he needs to take the day. He goes to the hospital and requests a few minutes alone with Myra's body before they take it away. He cries until his time is up, and leaves the hospital for a place on the nearby lake. On the way, he calls Fencl and says he'll be out for the rest of the night, but Fencl tells him that he received a call from a snitch requesting to speak with Nick. He gets the number for the hotel he called from, and eventually makes his way to the hotel and requests to have the room opened for him when he receives no answer. The manager reluctantly opens the door, and they find that the room is covered in blood. Nick tells them to call the New Orleans FBI office and inform them that he's already on the scene. Nick observes the bloody mess left by multiple axe wounds, and the blood trail led him to the bathroom, in which the body of his contact lay lifeless. His fingers pointed toward a message written in his own blood: "ROM DO." Nick reads it just before his blood washes it away. An hour later, local police and FBI alike swarm the scene while Nick makes a phone call to Wally Deaver, an old friend of his now working security and the source of Nick's moles. Deaver tries to make small talk while Nick conducts business, and eventually manages to tell him that the contact's name is Eduardo Lanzman, a Salvadoran CIA contact who may have been targeted by Panther Battallion, a Salvadoran unit that had killed nearly 200 women and children the month before. After the call, Fencl tells Nick that Eduardo came with no luggage, and that his only reason for coming must have been to speak with Nick. Bob, Shreck, Dobbler, Hatcher, and a few others are gathered around a conference table in the shoddy trailer. Bob asks for Shreck's real name, but his only reply is that it isn't William Bruce. He demands that Bob remain in his seat and tells him that he was meant to see through their ruse, and that they brought him out to convince him to hunt the Russian sniper that crippled him and killed his best friend, who is active once again. Nick and Hap stand next to the Coke machine neighboring Eduardo's room, Nick wondering why he would request a room next to so many machines that would cause such noise. Hap tries to assure him that it was because the higher amount of activity in that area was meant to scare off attackers, and that it simply didn't work. Nick doesn't buy it. Shreck puts a photo onto the screen in the room, depicting a man who looked every bit as dangerous as he is. He is introduced as T. Solaratov, the very same who killed Donny. Shreck asks Bob what his kill count is, but does not receive an answer. He says that it must be higher than the official number, 87, but they confirmed that Solaratov's count is over 300, mostly headshots. Nick makes his way into the office of Hillary Dwight, vice-president of the New Orleans branch of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company, explaining that Eduardo was murdered, and that he specifically requested a room next to the Coke machines, but asks what properties of these machines would make him so attracted to them in the case of him being trailed. Dwight explains that the machines in question are newer models that had just recently been installed, and that these higher-tech machines contain chips that emit an electromagnetic field in order to help power them, rendering audio surveillance ineffective. Nick makes a call. After summing up Solaratov's history, Shreck tells Bob that he has returned in order to assassinate the President of the United States and that they need his help to stop him. Bob smiles and agrees to take the job. The day of Myra's funeral, several of Nick's colleagues express their condolences. Nick heads in to work after she's laid to rest. Hap is briefing the office on the usual business when Nick arrives, who then asks to pursue Eduardo Lanzman's murder and explains the method by which his killers did the job. Hap agrees in exchange for his help on the Secret Service's security detail for the President's arrival in New Orleans. Nick then learns that Howard "Howdy Duty" Utey, the man who caused him to cripple his wife, is in charge of coordinating it. After ensuring his trailer is secure, Bob returns and reminisces about Donny, his time in Vietnam, and the future he envisioned with him that never came. He snaps out of it and begins his calculations as to how the shot will be taken. On the third day, he figures it out. Nick meets with Tommy Montoya, a local snitch, regarding the identity of Lanzman. He hints to Nick that he's Salvadoran, leading Nick to theorize that Lanzman sought Nick because he found something out that he couldn't tell his contacts in the CIA, but was taken down before he was able. Montoya tells Nick of the Electrotek 5400, a parabolic mike powerful enough to penetrate the field created by the Coke machines, but too expensive for even federal use. Finally, he tells Nick that "Rom Do" could be code for "Romeo Dog," the pre-Vietnam code words for the letters R and D. Nick picks Utey up from the airport and they have a tense, awkward conversation as they head to the field office. Utey tells him that March 1 is the date of the event, in which the president will award Archbishop Jorge Roberto Lopez of El Salvador the Freedom Medal. As they drive, Nick mentions the Lanzman case but is interrupted. In each of the four cities, Bob researches and scouts likely sniping positions. Each city provided its own set of problems, though New Orleans appeared to be the least problematic. Upon returning, he greets Mike with a smile and realizes he just spent over a week off the mountain. He types up his findings, predictions, and recommendations, then goes to sleep trying to find a way to keep Shreck from turning on him. After Utey's arrival, Nick has become his gofer for the most part. He arrives to a joint meeting with the Secret Service in which a list of potential threats to the president is being discussed: Alphas are the highest-priority, Betas are secondary, and Charlies are passive threats that still require looking into. To his dismay, he is assigned to investigate a group of Charlies. One of them is his hero, Bob Lee Swagger. He briefly investigates Bob after clearing most of his other Charlies, finding that three weeks ago, he allegedly sent a letter to the president that was deemed threatening. He eventually decides to not include Bob on the list of Charlies to be upgraded to Betas. Later, Nick takes part in a stakeout with Secret Service agents Herm Sloane and Jeff Till as they investigate a far-right anti-black group called the White Beacon of Racial Purity. The tip appears to yield nothing, but Nick takes the opportunity to mention the Electrotek 5400 when their surveillance gear fails. He gathers that certain government agencies and overseas organizations are indeed in possession of them. Till says they'd never get an Electrotek unless they worked for RamDyne, and explains to Nick just who they are. TBA Characters In order of appearance: * Bob Lee Swagger * Raymond Shreck * David Dobbler * Jack Payne * Bo Stark * Hatcher * Nick Memphis * Myra Memphis * Hap Fencl * Eduardo Lanzman * Wally Deaver * Hillary Dwight * Tommy Montoya * Howard Utey Adaptation There have been two adaptations of Point of Impact. Film The 2007 film Shooter is the first adaptation of Point of Impact. The plot is compacted to fit the run time, though it remains fairly faithful to the source material. It contains several differences: * The story takes place over a shorter period of time, roughly two weeks compared to the novel's year. * Several names are changed slightly. * Bob Lee Swagger is much younger than his novel counterpart. * Bob Lee did not serve in Vietnam. * Bob Lee does not prefer to be called "Bob". * Donny Fenn is killed by an enemy helicopter instead of a sniper. Bob Lee is not injured. * Bob Lee's dog is named Sam instead of Mike, likely in reference to Sam Vincent. * Isaac Johnson is the main antagonist, filling the same role as Raymond Shreck. * Johnson tells Bob Lee about the assassination plot at their first encounter; the visit to the cemetery, trip to Maryland, and Accutech cover story are omitted. * Bob Lee goes to the sites of each presidential stop immediately rather than planning for several days. * Bob Lee unknowingly meets the shooter on the day of the assassination. * The nationality of the Archbishop is changed from Salvadoran to Ethiopian. * The city in which the Archbishop is assassinated is changed from New Orleans to Philadelphia. * Bob Lee escapes the building immediately after being shot rather than waiting for an opening. * Nick Memphis's backstory, including the 1986 shooting in Tulsa and his wife's death, is omitted. * Howard Purnell (renamed from Howard Utey) is already Nick's supervisor, rather than being so for a special assignment. * The killing of Eduardo Lanzman, and by extension Annex B, is omitted. * Nick concludes that Bob Lee is innocent using hints from Bob Lee himself. * Julie's name is changed to Sarah, and she is no longer a nurse. * Sarah and Bob Lee are not explicitly shown to have a romantic relationship. * Sarah has a more active role, meeting with Nick in order to set him up as bait. * Mr. Rate (renamed from Rathford O'Brien) explains the concept of paper patching to Bob Lee and Nick; the Black King and its role in the story are omitted. * The shooter is the Russian war criminal Michaylo Sczerbiak instead of Lon Scott. * Bob Lee gives Nick impromptu training rather than Nick already being an accomplished marksman. * The village massacre took place in Ethiopia rather than El Salvador; the Panther Battalion is omitted. * Sczerbiak commits suicide in his cabin instead of taking part in the final showdown. * Hugh Meachum has been renamed to Charles Meachum, and is now a senator instead of CIA operator. * The climactic standoff takes place on a snowy peak rather than Hard Bargain Valley in the Ouachitas. * Dobbler does not defect from Johnson at any point and is not present on the mountain. * Bob Lee snipes Payne's arm from a distance prior to their face-to-face meeting rather than from point-blank with a shotgun. * Sarah kills Payne by shooting him in with a handgun rather than by Bob Lee's shotgun; Johnson is not killed during this encounter as Shreck was. * Meachum is present for the meeting and attempts to recruit Bob Lee. * The destroyed evidence is a recording of Sczerbiak's final words rather than Annex B. * The FBI are alerted to this meeting by Nick rather than finding out on their own. * Howard does not attempt to bribe Nick into testifying against Bob Lee. * Bob Lee's court hearing takes place in private with the Attorney General rather than a courtroom; Sam Vincent is not present, there is no prosecution, and Nick actively assists Bob Lee in the rifle's demonstration. * Bob Lee assassinates Dobbler and Johnson in addition to Meachum, rather than just Meachum. * Several ending details are omitted, such as Bob Lee's gift to Nick, Nick's marriage, and the fates of Howard and others. TV Series The 2016-2018 TV series Shooter, particularly its first season, is the second adaptation of Point of Impact. The plot remains largely the same, but many plot details are changed to a more modern equivalent and some are omitted entirely. Category:Novels Category:Bob Lee Swagger series